


In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

by Kealpos



Category: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, In case you couldn't make out what was happening between the cotton of metaphors, Multi, This is based around a High School AU me and Eden came up with, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-17 01:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14822513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kealpos/pseuds/Kealpos
Summary: It's not quite love and it's not a tragedyIt's Romeo and Romeo and Juliet and at least they're all alive





	In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

“I like this. I like you. You know that right?” Kathy murmured, her eyes fluttering as she laid her head on Don’s shoulder.  
“I would hope you like me, because it would crush me if I found out we had only been making out as friends,” he replied, a grin she couldn’t see but she could hear plastered on his face.

The two were situated on the gray steps leading to the school’s stage, clinging onto one another. There wasn’t any practice for Romeo and Juliet that day, but Kathy had been working herself into a fit about a French test that she completely failed, so Don had taken her there rather than class to just calm down.  
It was a sanctuary.

“I’m being serious. I’m glad I met you. I’m glad we’re friends. I really like you, Donald Lockwood.”  
Don’s head shifted so he could look at her clearly, and his hand came down and intertwined with hers. “Me too. I’m better with you, Katherine Selden.”

The two sat in silence for several moments, soaking in the feeling of using each other’s full names. That didn’t happen unless they were really joking or really serious. There was something happening inside their bubble.

Kathy and Don had met several months before at a trip that the choir group Don was a part of took. They were celebrating a win their group took in the semi-finals in the national high school choir competition and were holding a party in their hotel which he had to get to. Don, and his best friend Cosmo Brown, had decided to catch a movie beforehand, and on their way out from the theater, had gotten recognized by a few people. Zealous individuals who didn’t even know the two were clamoring for autographs, and they had to separate and escape. Don had jumped and escaped until landing in a girl’s car, somehow.  
Kathy Selden.

There was an exchange of opinions, if that’s what you called her ragging on how choir was idiotic and performing speaking lines on stage was the only way to go. She dropped him off at the hotel, and Don thought that was the last he’d see of her. He didn’t want it to be- she was confident, bold, and he kind of liked her being mean to him -but what could he do? He couldn’t seem to find a Kathy Selden on any public social media platform. And he tried. He did find a profile picture of her, but that was about it.

The rest of the school year and the summer passed in a flurry of losing the last leg of the choir competition, trudging through a relationship with Lina Lamont that was not going to last once they graduated, joking with Cosmo about anything and everything, and finally thinking about college.

Eventually, they headed back to the high school as Juniors, with Lina flaunting the fact that she never had to say anything to be popular, Don caring about his possible singing career, and Cosmo playing the trombone in his face. Everything was completely normal.

Then one day, Cosmo- who had to put up with his weirdly obsessive ranting about Kathy -dragged him to audition for the school play. Don put up a fight until he realized a familiar face was there, sitting in the audience. So he stayed and auditioned, just to spite her. Just so she would see him.

He got Romeo. She got Juliet.

My love is deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, both are infinite. Shakespeare wrote that once upon a time, probably. He hadn’t studied all the plays and they had to cut some lines so people wouldn’t fall asleep.

The two sat curled against each other, life idyllic. Kathy’s breath became calm and heavier, and Don felt like his hand was getting sweaty. His phone buzzed in his pocket, so he pulled himself away from her just slightly to fish it out.

“It’s Cos,” he said, looking down at the screen. “He’s wondering why we’re not at the classroom and he says he’s heartbroken that we finally ran off to New York without him. Do you mind if I invite him in?”  
“Not at all. I would’ve asked to bring him too, but I was too busy crying over an F,” Kathy replied, yawning into her hand. 

Don texted back quickly, Kathy staring at him all the while. When he decided Cosmo wasn’t texting back, he tucked his phone back into his pocket at looked back up, catching her looking at him almost dreamily. He smiled at her, a teasing energy in his eyes, and she just looked away from him, her cheeks dusted with pink.

A few seconds later, the big doors on the side of the auditorium swung open, and Cosmo Brown walked in, only a single level on the conspicuity scale lower than murdering someone in the middle of Times Square.

“Hey Kath, you all good? If you are, may I talk about how inconsolable I am, realizing that you two sluffed class without me?” His bag swung around and hit his waist as he made his way over to them, letting the door shut on his way over. He hummed some old tune Kathy vaguely recognized as he went and sat with them, draping himself on their laps. She just grinned at him.

“I’m feeling better, don’t worry. Hey Cosmo.”  
“Yes, Mistress Selden? What is it, my sweet and beautiful darling?”   
“I larb you,” she said, poking his chest. He was wearing his Spider-Man shirt, which was wildly comfortable and was actually purchased by Don. A lot of the boys' clothing was community shared, had been all their lives, and Kathy was glad she had wormed her way into their circle.

Don chuckled as Cosmo clutched his chest overdramatically. Kathy sighed happily, her heart beating softly and in tune with the song that was woven into the backdrop of the three’s new lives. She hoped she wouldn’t have to give this up after the play started showings, after they went public, after they started Senior year and eventually graduated. Maybe it was silly, but she felt like she was a reincarnation, meeting up with old friends in a new life.

There was peaceful silence after Cosmo stopped joking and got a hold of both their hands. The three formed a sort of circle, tucked in the warmth of the auditorium. They were too young to be in love, but there was a calm that situated itself in the silence between musical notes, in the iambic pentameter of the play, in the way Kathy forced them to learn dances from old movie-musicals with her, that felt like the kind of like word they needed.

They had gotten together because of a fight. Don and Kathy had to practice kissing for one of the scenes, but they had worked themselves up because Don tasted like cashews and Kathy like peanut butter. There was unmeasurable tension already brewing, and the pettiest thing had been the last straw. Cosmo, who liked to sit in on practices because of Don and the pretty little thing that had caught his fancy, knew he had to help.

Don was off being Don-like and fake godly, and Kathy was sniffing in the back of the auditorium. He went to help her first. She cried, talking quietly about how she felt sometimes like everyone ganged up on her so much because they hated her, especially Don. It was usually playful but it just happened so much. So he tucked an arm around her and let her cry her heart out, even when the director finally got fed up and let people leave early. They stayed.

Eventually, Don texted, asking where he was, and Cosmo demanded that he come back and apologize. He did. Don genuinely liked Kathy.

They talked, and things didn’t make up immediately, and they hardly even realized it was happening, but the fight and the comfort and the apologies broke down a dam. It was hard to see where one heartbeat ended and another began when there was water sweeping you away.

The three stayed in the auditorium for the rest of the school day, being sappy and funny and almost in something like love. Kathy traded Cosmo’s Spider-Man shirt for her own, worn t-shirt she had gotten from a visit to New York once, and Don just smiled comfortably and didn’t look away as they both changed, crouched behind some chairs just in case.

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head,” Cosmo said, quoting the play, slipping his hands into both of theirs when they were finally ready to head out.  
“Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished.” Kathy hummed when she finished her line, pulling herself in close to them as they neared the back.  
“For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo,” Don finished off, pushing open the doors for the three of them, letting them walk out into the sunlight.

**Author's Note:**

> I think this was a lot less literal than some of my previous pieces have been, but let me have some fun.
> 
> My [tumblr](http://www.don-lockwood.tumblr.com)


End file.
